Classify-It - 5. Teacher's Page

Objectives:

At the conclusion of this unit the student will be able to:

Recognize the importance of taxonomy.
Explain how a scientific name is written.
List the levels of classification.
Explain how taxonomists classify organisms.
Describe the 6 kingdom system of classification
Analyze the current kingdom system of classification.
Propose a future kingdom system and support their position with evidence.

Concepts:

Writing the scientific name for an organism including all eight levels of classification.
Determining how advances within the biological subcategories of cytology and ecology have contributed to our current classification system.
Predicting future changes to the system based on the diversity of the organisms within their Kingdom.

Standards:

ILS Stage H 11B1: Formulate proposals for design investigation, generating strategies to test or model a scientific concept, suggesting appropriate supplies, materials, resources, and equipment to test concepts.

ILS Stage H 12A3: Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to compare evolutionary trends between kingdoms and phyla, exploring natural and applied hybridization, explaining the increasing sophistication of body systems correlating embryological, structural, and functional development, or exploring the impact of environmental factors on these trends.

ILS Stage H 13A3: Analyze scientific studies referenced in curricular investigations in life, environmental, physical, earth, and space sciences, reviewing experimental procedures or explanations for possible faulty reasoning or unproven statements (e.g., power line magnetic fields, abiogenesis models), distinguishing relationships of scientific theories, models, hypotheses, experiments, and methodologies, or distinguishing fact from opinion and science from pseudoscience.

ILS Stage I 11B1: Identify an historic engineering feat, innovation or model, researching historic dilemmas which necessitated new scientific or engineering solutions, or brainstorming the kinds of barriers or circumstances that existed, identifying the simulation materials and procedural sequence which can simulate historic conditions, or determining success criteria, design constraints, and testing logistics encountered.

ILS Stage I 12A4: Analyze data to evaluate designs, comparing and summarizing data from multiple trials, evaluating conflicting data for validity and precision, correlating historic conditions and observations to model testing, or determining sources of error.

ILS Stage I 12A5: Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to explain tests of evolutionary evidence, analyzing acceptance of geologic and fossil records, researching comparative anatomy, embryology, biochemistry and cytology studies of analogous and homologous structures.

ILS Stage J 11A2: Design an issue investigation, proposing applicable survey and interview instruments and methodologies, selecting appropriate simulations, or projecting possible viewpoints, variables, applicable data sets and formats for consideration.

ILS Stage J 12A4: Apply scientific inquiries or technological designs to examine explanations of evolution, researching how genetic similarities are conserved between species, genera, families, etc., analyzing the testing process for acceptance by the scientific community, referencing geographic, geologic, or anthropologic evidence for the sequencing of the genus, Homo, or introducing the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA basis of genetic kinship of the species.

Unit Schedule:

"Classify-It" is a performance based assessment which will be used in the classification unit. The activity is intended for the 9th grade biology classroom. "Classify-It" requires the students to have previously studied ecology and cytology. The webquest would follow a 1-2 day introduction to classification where the students are taught the history and importance of taxonomy.

Implementation strategies:

Students are given a brief history of the classification system over the first two days of the unit.
Students are assigned the individual task and asked to complete the task in a single day. The student will fill in the organism graphic organizer in their search.
Students are assigned the group task. Groups should have from 2-6 individuals with a total of 6 groups in the class, one group per kingdom. They have two days to compile their information and develop their argument as to whether or not their Kingdom is an effective classification group. The group will complete the classification debate guide in this process. They will clearly indicate the characteristics of their Kingdom and the position they are taking on their Kingdom within a specific presentation medium of their choice.
On the sixth day the groups will present the information on their Kingdom to the class. The class will take notes about the various characteristics of the 6 Kingdoms.
There will be a review of the classification system on day seven and the students will be tested on the classification system on day eight.

Rationale:

The "Classify-It" activity is a problem based learning webquest designed to guide student's learning of the classification system. The problem of the webquest requires the students to propose potential changes to the system; this is based on the history of classification and the current diversity of organisms within each of the 6 Kingdoms. The individual task of the "Classify-It" webquest requires students to become an expert on an assigned organism by searching specific websites for information. By working through the task with a specific organism in mind the students will be more engaged in their own learning. The students will then form a group based on the Kingdom of their organism. The group is responsible for analyzing the characteristics of each of their organisms to determine if their Kingdom is a satisfactory classification group. The students will be considering ecological and cellular characteristics of these organisms to illustrate how the classification of organisms is based on many areas of science today. The best approach for this activity is a problem based learning scenario, because it reflects the real world situation of the classification system.